The Lost Boys
by twistedtellings
Summary: Maggie is an avid rule follower, living in a strict world of right and wrong. Parker is a rule breaking, trouble making, immature scoundrel. When Parker gets placed in a group with Maggie's friends for a school project, the two have to learn to work together to solve a haunting mystery before Parker lands himself into trouble he can't escape. BETA READER WANTED PLS PM
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Orphan

Maggie liked to think that she was no damsel in distress. She could take care of herself and prided herself in knowing that she was always down for a good fight. That and an unusually strong moral compass to do the right thing, set her apart from typical high school girls. Which is what led her to end up plowing into the path of Parker between classes on Thursday afternoon.

All around her lockers slammed, as her fellow class mates rushed to gather their notebooks and spare pens between classes. Lauren, her best friend stood next to her, as she dug out the giant tome that was her history book from under a pile of old tests.

"So, are you down with being my model and body guard Saturday night? I really want to check out that abandoned school and get some good photos, but I don't want to go by myself." Lauren wanted to know.

Maggie shot her a look. Lauren was obsessed with an old and abandoned reform school out in the middle of nowhere in the woods, a few miles from town.

"Lare, the place has been abandoned for nearly fifteen years. Just because you find an old blog with a few creepy pictures that says it's haunted, doesn't mean we need to go see it for ourselves." Maggie told her as she juggled her algebra book with her bag, before just dropping it onto the pile of trash that was at the bottom of her locker.

Lauren ignored Maggie as she peered into her small, hand-held compact, fussing with her overly exaggerated, swoopy-emo bangs and hipster glasses.

"Don't tell me Miss Martial Arts is afraid of a few old ghosts." Lare quipped.

"Don't even. My ass-kicking awesomeness aside, I just really don't want to be arrested for trespassing. Or contract tetanus. Plus, we were so almost caught at the last place you wanted to go exploring at. And that old mill had signs up too." She pointed out.

"Psht. Sounds like somebody is a big, fat chicken." Lare smirked.

"You know, I am going to eventually start charging you for my services right?" Maggie retorted. Lare snorted as she took out a pencil of black eyeliner and reapplied the dark coal to the rims of her eyes.

Lare thought it made her look cool and brooding. Maggie thought it made her look like a raccoon, but that was none of her business. Better a raccoon than the fake, orange Dorito's tan. Still, Lare could be really vane sometimes.

Lare finished with her eyes and put the lid back on the eyeliner before slipping it and the compact back into her messenger bag. Maggie slammed her locker shut and the pair turned to walk down the hall to the next class, their pleated uniform skirts swaying in unison.

Maggie was a head and a half taller and muscular compared to Lare, who was ridiculously short and thin. They were affectionately known as the hobbit and the amazon by their other friends.

Maggie remembered when they had met in sixth grade. Lare had been short a quirky, and definitely nerdy. Somewhere along the way she had morphed into the angsty, emo kid she was now. She would wear purposely distressed clothes outside of school, usually sporting heavy wild makeup, and was never seen without her beat up purple converses and Nikon.

Maggie was opposite of Lare. Where Lare had stopped growing in the eighth grade and had stayed slender, Maggie had continued to sprout. She was now pushing five foot nine, and much to Lare's chagrin, had developed the curvy body of a medieval bar maid. Maggie was by no means fat, but she was unable to share clothes with her best friend like normal teenagers, because Lare was worried Maggies boobs would stretch out her band t-shirts. Not to mention that on Maggie they looked like belly shirts. They didn't even bother with trading pants.

The further down the hallway they got, the more congested the traffic became. Students were getting pressed against one another as raucous shouting and laughter could be heard from the dense center of the packed crowd.

"What's going on? I can't see anything!" Lare complained from behind the broad shoulders of two football players.

Maggie had no problem pushing through the crowd with Lare in tow. Students were shouting now and the word FIGHT was being repeated among all of their classmates. She caught sight of two boys in the center of the throng, circling each other. One was a muscle-bound Neanderthal named Nathan, who played defense on the football team.

Maggie recognized the school's local trouble maker instantly. Parker's hair was tousled as was his uniform shirt, which had come untucked from his pants. His blazer and tie lay on the ground forgotten. Parker had been causing trouble since his first day in the school, determined to make a name for himself, other than being known as the poster child for teen adoptions.

Adrenaline raced through Maggie's veins, and her heart pounded at the thought of a fight, as she watched the boys assess one another, critiquing their stances in her mind. Both had their fists up, with eyes locked, circling each other in the tight clearing of students.

"You orphan's stick together, don't you?" Nathan sneered.

"I told you to keep your hands off him!" Parker growled. Around them the crowd was becoming more raucous by the second.

"Watcha gonna do about it orphan? Come on." Nathan taunted. Maggie's brow wrinkled as she watched the two, waiting with bated breath to see what would happen next. Parker irked her to no end with his constant disruptions, but she hated bullies more than she hated his antics. Nathan was a prick.

Finally, Nathan lunged at the other boy, who stepped out of the way lightly and shoved the bigger boy in the shoulders and into the lockers, laughing as Nathan nearly tripped and fell. Maggie let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding with some satisfaction at seeing Nathan plow into the metal lockers, but the victory was short lived.

Nathan may have been an idiot, but he was still an athlete with quick reflexes. His left arm shot out and caught the smaller boy in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. The smaller boy stumbled back into the wall of students, gasping clutching his stomach. The two team mates that had been blocking Lare's view earlier shoved the sagging Parker back into the makeshift arena. He was bent over with hands on knees, when Nathan came at him a second time, but the boy surprised Maggie by charging into Nathan. Beside her, Lare squeaked, covering her mouth with her hands.

The bigger boy was also caught by surprise but recovered enough to punch again, this time making contact with the slighter boy's jaw. He floundered on the floor for a moment, dazed from the strike. Nathan circled back around his eyes zeroed in on the teen, fists balled tight.

Maggie moved quickly, not even taking a moment to register in her mind what she was about to do. Her body was on auto-pilot as Nathan made a final pass at the kid on the floor. Stepping in front of him, she blocked the next blow with her right forearm, then gripped Nathan's wrist tightly with both hands and whipped it back in the opposite direction, twisting the tendon's and bones at the same time. Nathan was strong and he attempted to push her off, but she was trained and knew exactly what to do. She twisted her frame, throwing the power of her hips into the technique and twisted the wrist even tighter until he finally stopped and started howling that she was breaking his arm.

A fourth person entered the arena then, a boy that looked remarkably like Nathan, only slightly older. James, Nathan's older brother, and fellow senior.

"Maggie, let him go, I've got it from here." He said. Nathan looked furious, but Maggie didn't care. She released him with an irritated shove and turned to face Parker, who was slowly getting back to his feet, as James muttered something to Nathan that she didn't catch.

"Are you alright?" She asked Parker, extending a hand to help him up off the floor. He surprised her, by glaring at her, irritation written in the crease of his brow. Ignoring her offered hand, he shoved himself to his feet. Maggie dropped her hand, feeling embarrassed.

"What the hell are you doing?" Parker muttered to her.

"Excuse me, I am being nice. In case you didn't notice, he was about to rip your head off." Maggie snapped.

"I don't need your help." Parker retorted.

"Break it up! Back away from each other now!" Teachers swarmed in around the students then, separating them from each other, before Maggie could respond.

"What the hell is going on here?" Coach Taylor demanded of Nathan and James. Vice Principal Colson quickly followed, and unnecessarily pinned Parker up against the lockers. Maggie stood awkwardly in the center of the throng now, wringing her hands. The rational side of her mind was slowly catching up with what she had just done along with the arrival of the teachers. She was in trouble. Big trouble. Her parents were going to murder her.

"Were you fighting again, Mr. Price? That's it, I don't care how much money the Mayor throws at this school, I've had enough. You are out!" Maggie heard him hiss.

"Mr. Colson, Parker wasn't the one-" Maggie started, ready to set the record straight, despite Parker being a jerk.

"No one asked you, Ms. Dailey." Mr. Colson said jerkily.

"Coach, it was my bad. Parker didn't start it." James spoke up as he stepped forward, coming between Maggie and Mr. Colson.

"Oh, and who did?" Mr. Colson spat, craning his neck to look at Maggie over James broad shoulders.

"I did."

Maggie's mouth fell open at James' blatant lie. All around her, Maggie heard the hiss of her fellow students as they whispered to each other. Glancing through the throngs of her classmates she noticed that Nathan had disappeared into the crowd. Convenient, she thought. Overhead, the bell rang, signaling classes were to resume.

"All three of you in my office NOW! The rest of you back to class!" Mr. Colson shouted. Spittle flew from his mouth, and his face was the color of a ripe tomato, which couldn't have been good for his blood pressure. Maggie's classmates trickled off one by one, now that the drama had come to a close.

"Get a move on, Parker Price!" Colson had gripped Parker by his upper arm and was already dragging him towards the Principals office. Parker jerked his arm out of Principal Colson's grip, still glowering at everyone that was still loitering in the hall. James shuffled along behind the coach, his head hung in resignation.

Maggie brought up the rear of the procession, feeling trepidation starting to rush through her system. What had she done? She caught Lauren's wide eyes as she passed her friend, and waved regretfully before heading into the Principals office.

Mr. Colson snapped at his secretary to contact each of their parents, before gesturing that all three students should follow him into his private office. Maggie, Parker and James sat on the ugly floral printed stain covered couch that he pointed at, with Maggie squeezed between the two boys. Coach Taylor sat in the spare folding chair that barely upheld his massive frame, while Colson sat in his plush rolling office chair behind his desk. The only other furniture in the room was a massive, metal filing cabinet that was kept locked at all times.

Now that normal reasoning had returned to Maggie, her hands shook violently, and her stomach did back flips, at the thought of actually being in trouble, and having to go to the Principals office. She had never had to go to the principal's office in trouble before. Her heart raced as it pounded out a drum roll in her chest. She tried to squelch her nerves by hiding her hands under her thighs and sitting on them, but that only resulted in her looking even more spastic. Sweat trickled down her back and sides, and she knew for sure she was going to have massive pit stains later.

"You all three know I have a strict rule about violence in this school. What the hell happened out there?" Colson demanded.

Parker just crossed his arms and leaned back against the couch, looking completely unconcerned. However, his leg jiggled up and down with pent up energy and rubbed up against Maggie's, betraying that he was just as nervous as she was. She stared at the floor waiting for one of the boys to make the first move, squirming uncomfortably between the two them. James was the first to break the silence.

"Mr. Colson, this was just a misunderstanding. I accidentally ran into him in the hallway. He thought I did it on purpose. It was my bad." he explained.

Maggie nearly choked on her own anxiety, unable to believe what she was hearing. Why would James take the blame for something that he wasn't even there for? Beside her, Parker became very stiff for a second, and then his leg picked up the bouncing motion again, this time at triple the speed. Questions exploded in Maggie's mind like fireworks, as she tried to figure out what type of angle James was playing at.

"So you thought it was a good idea stirring up trouble for no good reason?" Mr. Colson spat at Parker, turning in his squeaking chair to face him.

"Whatever, you can believe what you want." Parker snorted. Colson chose to ignore the remark, turning to Maggie.

"What about you Ms. Daily? Is there some reason you thought it was appropriate to step into a fight that was none of your business?" Colson directed at her. Maggie chewed her lip, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what to say. How was she supposed to explain that Nathan had been the one that had been fighting, when he wasn't even here now?

A faint touch against the bare skin of her knee caught her attention and she looked down to see James fingers brushing against her skin. She glanced at him, feeling slightly revolted. His eyes seemed to be communicating to her silently. His look held a warning. Maggie tried to slide a couple more inches toward Parker and away from James as goose bumps erupted across her skin. Parker cleared his throat loudly, startling her.

"I was just trying to stop it before it got out of hand." Maggie defended, finally finding her voice as she faced back to Mr. Colson, who squinted, scrutinizing her. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the truth either, and it made her feel sick inside. She hoped if she kept her responses as vague as possible, he wouldn't question her further and force her into a lie. She didn't want to lie for a fellow student, and she didn't want to lie to a teacher, but she really didn't want to be in any more trouble than she already was either.

"Enough! I want the truth! This was not some little misunderstanding! You're trying to cover up for this waste of space!" Colson shouted, slamming his fist onto his desk top, causing Coach Taylor to jump slightly.

"Mr. Colson I believe I can take it from here." Mrs. Boone, the head principal stood framed in the doorway, a disapproving look directed in Mr. Colson's direction. Mr. Colson visibly shrank, his anger deflating like a hot air balloon. He took a tissue from his pocket and wiped his mouth and the shining spot of sweat on his brow at the crown of his receding hair line.

"Now, they have told you what happened. I think detention tomorrow will suffice for a punishment."

"But, Principal Boone-" Mr. Colson tried to interrupt, but Principal Boone continued to talk as if he had not opened his mouth.

"The three of you can report to the Coaches office. This will be going in each of your files, of course. Let's not let this happen again." Mrs. Boone told them. Maggie heard James murmur a faint "Yes, Ma'am". She nodded her head in agreement. Beside her, Parker shifted slightly and re-crossed his arms, an arrogant smirk plastered on his face.

"Mr. Colson, if you would be so kind as to hand out the detention slips. I have work to do." Mrs. Boone left, her stiletto heels clicking on the tile as she walked back to the front of the office. Mr. Colson scratched out the detention slips, grumbling angrily under his breath. Maggie let out a soft breath, relief surging through her. Detention she could handle.

"But sir, tomorrow's Friday. We have a game!" James tried to protest, as Mr. Colson handed him his slip of paper.

"Coach, I don't hear you contesting this." Colson swiveled his chair around to face the coach and glared.

"Oh, no whatever you think is best," Coach Taylor agreed, clearly not wanting to prolong the visit.

"See? Coach Taylor is fine with it. Now, do you want to continue arguing or would you like to make these little sessions for the next week?" James quickly shook his head. Colson stood up from behind the desk, his chair squeaking loudly, and came around to the couch to hand them their detention slips.

When he got to Parker he bent forward slightly to speak to him.

"This is your final warning Parker, one more toe across the line, and you are done. You hear me? There won't be a next time." Maggie heard him hiss. Maggie stared, open mouthed, startled at the ferocity Mr. Colson was directing at Parker. Colson's head snapped to face her.

"Anything you want to add, Ms. Daily?" he asked. Maggie snapped her mouth shut and shook her head, after a second he directed his gaze back to Parker.

"Do we understand each other?" he asked.

Parker continued to smirk up at the principal through the messy locks of sandy hair before reaching to take the slip out of Colson's hand.

"Now get out, all of you. Coach, I want a word."

Parker shot off of the couch and out of the door before James and Maggie had even stood up. Maggie caught sight of Parker disappearing down the hall only stopping to pick up his forgotten blazer, where it lay trampled on the hallway floor. She blinked and he turned the corner and was gone. James stood next to her, looking ruefully after Parker as well.

"Thanks for not saying anything in there about Nathan." Maggie felt her temper begin to rise again at the sound of James voice.

"Why did you lie in there?" She demanded, stepping away from him, glaring. She still felt uncomfortable being around him. Especially here in the hallway, alone.

"Because, I knew Nathan would have gotten thrown off the team for what he was doing. I'm his older brother. I have to watch out for him." James said.

"Well he won't learn anything if you are constantly taking the heat for him. Little douche bag's like him are what's wrong with people today." Maggie snapped. "I heard what he said to Parker about being a foster kid. That's messed up."

"My brother can be a dick, but that doesn't mean he deserves to lose any future scholarships for being a dumb ass."

"You could have just ignored it." Maggie pointed out. James shrugged before heading in the opposite direction for class.

"So could you. See ya tomorrow in detention." He called over his shoulder. Maggie wrinkled her nose, then started down the hall to her own class, thankful that her History teacher wasn't one to give students a hard time about being late. She was in enough trouble without all of that.

Mr. Jenkins was already in full lecture mode when she slid into her seat in the back next to Lare, who raised her eyebrows in silent question. Maggie flashed her the detention slip to which Lare rolled her eyes.

Two rows down Maggie's eyes found Parker slumped in his chair doodling on a notebook. A scowl covered his face as his bright eyes darted from the board and back to his notebook, jotting notes occasionally. Maggie followed his still bouncing knee down to his beat up shoes and the faint stains and frayed edge of his uniform pants. His jacket was rumpled and slung carelessly across the back of his chair. He looked like a lost, wild animal, she thought.

"Now as most of you remember, unless you've been sleeping this entire semester, which I am positive some of you have," Mr. Jenkins said, breaking through Maggie's reverie.

"We've come up to the senior project. This year, instead of doing the standard of just writing a boring report, and repeating it word for word in front of the class, we are going to do something a little different. Everyone knows all about the US on a national scale, but what can you tell me about your local history? Anything at all? I didn't think so." Mr. Jenkins gave them all a stern look from the white board at the front of the class.

"So, go ahead and break up into pairs, and I want you to decide on which historical site you want to work on. FYI it has to be local. Then come to me and I'll approve it for you." All around them, chairs scraped against the tiled floor as students rushed to pair with their friends. Maggie turned to Lauren, who was practically bouncing out of her chair.

"Let me guess. You want to do the abandoned reform school." Maggie groused.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! Now I have a legitimate reason to go!" Lauren practically screeched. Maggie shook her head and heaved a resigned sigh as Lare shot out of her seat and went to Mr. Jenkins desk to tell him about their project. While Lare gushed about her ideas about the abandoned reform school, Maggie's gaze zoned back in on Parker, who still hadn't offered to move or pair up with anyone. Which no one had really offered to pair up with him either. His reputation as a trouble maker had his fellow classmates steering clear of him when an important grade was on the line.

"Mr. Price, is there a reason you are still by yourself?" Mr. Jenkins had also apparently spotted the disgruntled youth.

"I'd rather work by myself."

"Well that's too bad, Mr. Price. This is a partner project. Who here is willing to let Mr. Price join their group?" Mr. Jenkins addressed the room at large. The dull roar of the class died down to an awkward hum as no offers came forward. Maggie would have been mortified had it been her, however Parker had a smug smile plastered on his face, looking pleased. Maggie chewed her lip again, warring with herself over doing the right thing, before finally being unable to bear it any longer as Parker sat in the uncomfortable silence that had now dropped over the room like a heavy blanket. She slowly raised her hand in the air, already feeling regret wash over her like a tidal wave.

"Mr. Jenkins, he can work with us." Lare's vivid green eyes caught hers from behind Mr. Jenkins back, wide with shock.

"Excellent! Problem solved." Mr. Jenkins clapped his hands and rubbed them together vigorously. Maggie didn't have to look to know that Parker's sardonic smile had been replaced with an ugly look. She peaked over at him, and nearly flinched when his stormy blue eyes caught hers. He waited until Mr. Jenkins had continued on to the next group, before he moved over to the desk next to Maggie and Lare.

"What is your problem? Why can't you just leave me alone and butt out?" He ground out. Maggie looked at him, affronted.

"What's your problem? I'm just trying to be nice. You're being a total jerk." she hissed back. Parker's blue eyes cut into Maggie like a bad case of freezer burn, but he remained silent. She glared back, refusing to be cowed into looking away first.

"Guys, come on. Let's just work this out. This is like my dream!" Lare whined, exasperation leaking into her voice as the tension rose between the two.

"Parker what's your cell, we can text you the details of where to meet on Saturday, or we can carpool or something." Lare had her pen poised over her notebook, ready to scribble down his number.

Without taking his eyes off of Maggie, he reached over and snatched the pen out of Lare's hand, and ripped a page out of her notebook, to which she could only squeak out a small "Hey, now!" of protest. He scrawled out his ten digit number in a messy haphazard penmanship, without ever breaking his gaze. Folding the paper in half once, and then into quarters and finally eighths, he slid it across the table to Maggie, right up to the very tips of her fingers. Her skin brushed against his as her fingers crushed the square into the palm of her hand. He stood then, only to bend back down so that his face was level with hers, his arrogant, cocky smirk back in place. Maggie leaned back into her chair, uncomfortable with his close proximity, wishing he would at least blink.

"Looking forward to working with you." He said silkily. Maggie huffed and felt herself blushing as she stuffed the sheet of crinkled notebook paper into her jacket pocket, determined to not let him get to her. He was so bi-polar.

"Well that was intense. And weird. Did I mention weird?" Lare remarked as she leaned around Maggie to watch Parker saunter off. Maggie crossed her arms and didn't reply, irritation seething through her.

"Alright everyone, let me get you to focus back up here to the front please. I know it's hard. Only five minutes left to the day and you all want out of here. So do I, believe me." Mr. Jenkins called to the class at large. Maggie and Lare faced back towards the front as Parker slouched back into the metal desk he had occupied before, tuning out the remainder of the class.

"This project is going to be counting as a quarter of your grade. As you all know, class work, your tests and your final make up the other three quarters. So make it count people. Don't be afraid to get creative with your presentations. There may be some extra credit for creativity." The bell rang.

"Pick up a copy of the syllabus from my desk on your way out. Project is due in four weeks guys." he called over the intermingled high pitch of the bell toll and scraping sounds of students rushing from their desks, and storming the door.

Maggie and Lauren fought their way through the crowds back to Maggie's locker where she grabbed her gym bag and her book bag. Glancing down the long row of metal doors, she saw Parker cramming his notebook in to his own locker. Lauren caught her glance and moved in front of her line of vision blocking her view of Parker out.

"What's going on with that?" she asked jerking her chin towards Parker.

"What's up with what? I'm just trying to be nice." Maggie told her, turning back to her own locker and pretending to debate on whether or not she should take her algebra book home.

"Are you kidding me? That's nice? God, I would hate to see what happened when you two fought." Lare exclaimed. Maggie rolled her eyes.

"You know I'm not going to stand by and just let someone get bullied." She answered. Lare snorted.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you say. I just know you don't usually risk life and liberty for random guys who are psychopathic, ass hats either. I'm calling bull crap."

Overhead the crappy PA system crackled to life, and Principal Colson's voice boomed out over the heads of the students.

"Parker Price, report to the principal's office, Parker Price, report to the principal's office. Your ride is waiting." With a loud screech that caused most of the student body to flinch as one, the speaker shut off. Maggie caught a glance of Parker as he slammed his locker shut, his signature scowl in place, before slipping into the crowd and out of her sight.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I totally regret it all now, and I still have to go home and deal with my parents." Maggie retorted, feeling more miserable by the minute.

"Alright, well I'll see you in the morning then. I have to go. I have a dentist appointment at four, and mom is probably waiting in traffic, about to have a fit. I'll text you!" Lare called as she flitted away with the flow of traffic.

"Okay, see you."

Maggie headed back down the hall towards the student parking lot, where her VW Bug was parked. She peered into the principal's office as she passed by seeing Parker standing there, both hands shoved deep in his pockets, with his sleeves rolled up haphazardly to his elbows. Maggie recognized the petite woman with dark cropped hair, dressed in a crisp pants suit who stood next to him, a serious expression on her face as she talked with Principal Colson. The Mayor's wife was in and out of the school often, due to Parker's many transgressions. The door opened and Maggie heard the pair leave the office.

"I'll make sure the check is dropped off on Monday for the booster club." She promised, as the door swung shut.

Maggie heard the woman berating Parker as they headed in the direction of the parking lot. Parker's eyes flashed up and caught Maggie's as he passed. She stopped to let them by, her feet frozen in place by the glacial stare, that didn't match the smirking expression on his lips. He blinked then looked away. What was his problem?

As they passed, Maggie's eyes swept over the pair. Mrs. Canton's back was ramrod straight as she marched through the double doors, digging in her designer purse for her keys. She followed them out to the parking lot, trying to keep her distance. However her low, cutting tones still carried back.

"-don't know what your deal is. We have given you everything! You've got a nice house, nice clothes, a car, a phone. We are paying for your education." Mrs. Canton listed.

They climbed into the sleek SUV parked at the edge of the sidewalk. Parker sat in the front passenger seat, his arms crossed and stared out of the window at Maggie. All of a sudden she saw him flinch.

She squinted for a better view as he turned away from her, and saw the woman's perfectly manicured hand reach up and across as she slapped Parker right in the face. Then without a second glance, the woman whipped the SUV into drive and spun out of the parking lot.

Maggie's hands gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white, her entire body tensed, like she had been the one to receive the slap. Finally getting her shock under control, Maggie cranked her own car and pulled out of the parking lot, her thoughts swirling around inside her mind like a vortex. Her parents never hit her. She might have gotten a spanking when she was younger for misbehavior, but they never, ever did anything like slap her across the face. Sure her mom would have threatened it, especially when she back talked. Or her dad would ground her for a month at a time, but never anything as violent as what she had just witnessed, and definitely not in a public setting, like a school parking lot.

Violence wasn't tolerated in the Dailey family. It was also the first rule of the dojo at her martial arts club. It was a tool to build respect, character and discipline. When they sparred it was about respecting their partner, not about being able to win. Of course it's always a bonus if you win, but that wasn't the point.

Maggie tried to push Parker and all of those underlying issue to the back of her mind as she drove home, and gave her full attention to the predicament she now found herself in. Her parents were going to be so mad. They were so strict sometimes, and fighting at school that warranted a call home, was definitely going to bring on the parental wrath. Her dad could manage to blow things out of proportion in a heartbeat, whereas her mom could be a little more rational and reasoned with, given the right circumstances.

Maggie chewed on her fingernails when she parked her bug in the driveway, and continued to deliberate, before finally deciding on her usual course. If all else fails, to tell the truth.

She made a point of being extra quiet when going through the front door, in hopes that her parents wouldn't notice she was home, and be able to put off the impending argument. Luck however was not on her side. The storm door crashed closed as a gust of autumn wind tore through their row of town houses, slamming it on her as she barely got through it.

She held her breath as she crept down the hall past the open living room, where her dad was sitting on the couch, watching the news. He was facing away from the door. Down the hall she could hear her mom in the kitchen, rattling pots and pans on the stove, getting dinner ready. As she tried to sneak past the door, her dad cleared his throat, and turned down the volume, effectively cutting off the sound of the weather report.

"So, Mags, How was your day?" He asked, nonchalantly.

"Oh, um." Maggie stalled for time, wondering if the school had called already, as her mind raced to find a way to avoid being grounded for the next century.

"The school called." Her dad said, practically plucking the thoughts from her cranium.

"Oh, yeah? What about?' Maggie asked, testing the waters. She was sweating again, and a pounding migraine was forming behind her right eye.

"Something about you being called to the principal's office and having detention tomorrow. You wanna explain what happened?" Her dad kept a low and reasonable tone, giving her some hope that he would at least hear her out.

"Yeah, about that. It was no big deal. Like you said it's only detention." She said, mirroring her dad's nonchalance, pleading silently that he would let it go, just this one time.

"No big deal, huh?" Maggie tried to swallow around the lump in her throat. Her dad stood, and turned to face her, his hands were balled into loose fists, his thumbs hooked through his belt loops.

"How about you tell me what happened, and I'll be the judge of whether it's 'not a big deal' or not." Her dad said, fixing her with a frown. Maggie put her school bag on the ground and dug her hands into the pockets of her blazer nervously. Her fingers closed around the notebook paper with Parker's number on it. Anger flooded her stomach at the thought of his rude split personality act earlier at school. She took a deep shuddering breath before launching into the story of what had happened that afternoon. Including how Nathan had been involved, and how James had lied to the Principal about what had happened.

"Maggie, you could have hurt that boys chances at his future. He could be getting a scholarship! What if you had damaged him beyond repair?" Her dad asked. Maggie stood at a loss for words, her jaw open slightly. Really? That was what her dad was worried about?

"You can't be serious? He was going to hurt that other kid! How could you not expect me to not stop something like that?" Maggie countered.

"Besides, I didn't hurt him. He is fine! I had it all in control! That's what we are taught in classes and I did it perfectly!" Maggie tried to sound as reasonable as possible.

"NO, you weren't in control. You acted childishly. Maybe it's time we put the martial arts stuff to bed." her dad suggested, running his hand through his hair distractedly, causing the dark locks to stand on end.

"You can't do that! I haven't done anything wrong! All I did was stand up for someone! Why would you punish me for that? I'm only two belts away from my black belt! That isn't fair, I've worked really hard on this!" Panic was causing Maggie's thoughts to spin and her perfectly reasonable argument was about to go out the window. This wasn't fair. Not at all.

"Maybe that is a little much, honey. You know how Principal Colson is. He likes to blow things out of proportion." her mom reasoned, coming up behind her.

"He totally does. And he has it out for Parker I think. He treated him really badly in his office. And it wasn't Parker's fault at all. I saw it, but James lied!" Maggie told them, her words streaming like a fountain. Her mom and dad shared a look, communicating silently. Hope kindled in Maggie's chest at the possibility of having her mom as an ally in this argument.

"I'm sure he was just doing his job as an educator. You have to be tough on kids, or they will never grow up and learn." her dad said. Privately, Maggie disagreed. She may have decided that she didn't really care for Parker, or his multiple personalities, however, Mr. Colson had gone out of his way to not only reprimand Parker, but to threaten him as well.

"Now, about your martial arts class," Her dad continued. Maggie waited with baited breath for the verdict to fall.

"I guess you can keep on with it. But I want your promise that you will stay out of trouble, and away from kids like this Parker. He sounds like a trouble maker. Does that sound fair?"

Maggie let out a very slow breath as her anxiety level lowered, along with the temperature in the room. She didn't bother to tell her dad that she was now paired with Parker for a class assignment. No sense in throwing gas on that fire. At least she would still be paired with Lare. So she could just say she was with Lare, and the fact that Parker was there, well, that didn't need to be known. Maggie hated this already.

"Yeah, that sounds alright. So, we are good?" Maggie asked. Almost home free, she thought.

"I think so, unless your mom has anything she wants to add."

"No, not really. Oh by the way, your dad and I are going to be going out late Saturday afternoon into the city. Your dad has a work thing. Are you going to be available to keep an eye on your brother?" her mom asked. Maggie thought it was so adorable how her mom asked her to watch Josh, when she knew that she had to whether she wanted to or not. So considerate.

"Oh, um. Well me and Lare were going to be working on a school project we got assigned with today. It's pretty big, so it's going to take a lot of work." Maggie's stomach sank at the thought of her brother having to tag along. At thirteen, he was the most obnoxious individual Maggie knew, and she went to high school. With high school boys.

"I don't need a baby sitter!" She heard Josh yell down the hall. Maggie's mom rolled her eyes.

"When you learn to make ramen noodles in the microwave without burning them and destroying the microwave, we will talk. Until then mister, you are going to be with Maggie." Her dad hollered back down the hall.

"Ah man! That was one time!" Josh yelled back.

"But, what about mine and Lare's project?" Maggie asked.

"He's just going to have to tag along. You know the rules. You watch Josh for free, you get to drive the car." her mom said.

"Ughh. Fine," Maggie sighed. She headed down the hall towards her basement bedroom, passing Josh's room on the way she stuck her head through his door. He sat at his computer, his glasses slipping down his nose. A headset sat perched in his curly hair and he directed his online gaming buddies into the next level of their game.

"I need help over here! Mikey, on my flank, res me! res me!" He yelled, clicking furiously.

"You better not be a pain on Saturday, me and Lare have a lot to do. And you don't get to argue about where we are going either. You have to suck it up and deal." She told him.

"Ohhh. Lauren's coming?" Josh tore his eyes away from the screen to waggle his eyebrows suggestively. Maggie faked a gagging motion.

"Don't be a total perve either. I mean it."

Josh made a face at her and then stuck his tongue out at her and flicked it like a snake.

"Ew. See. Like that. I will hit you." she warned. Josh's screen lit up and the sound of a virtual explosion blasted through his speakers.

"Shit, guys sorry!" He said turning away from Maggie and speaking into the mouth piece.

"Nerd," Maggie called, as she continued on down the hall. Josh either didn't hear her or didn't care.

Maggie wound her way through to the back of the house to the stairs down to the basement where her room was located.

Their three story town house was nearly one hundred years old and had an odd layout due to all of the many renovations it had been through over the years. Which Maggie thought was cool. The basement wasn't your typical dungeon. French doors led out onto a concrete patio that was enclosed with a brick wall and a gate that led into the park behind their neighborhood. It was divided into three rooms. A bathroom, a rec room and Maggie's bedroom. Maggie knew that once she left for college her parents were considering renting out the basement.

It was a pretty sweet set up. Most parent's wouldn't let their eighteen-year-old daughter who was a senior in high school have that much privacy, but thankfully Maggie's parent's trusted her. Not that she had ever done anything for them not to. Maggie didn't have a boyfriend, and she didn't hang out with boys. Mostly she just spent time with Lare when she wasn't reading or in her martial arts classes.

Maggie tossed her backpack on her desk in her bedroom, before flopping down on her made up bed. Her text tone chimed, and she had to flip onto her side and stretch to reach her phone that was still in her bag. It was a message from Lauren. She was probably going to be ticked about the addition of Parker to their little class project.

Lare: Out of dentist. WRUD?

Maggie: Just got home and treated to a lecture about how I could hurt some 1.

Lare: = beast. Sooo what is up with Parker?

Maggie: OMG nothin is up. If I could take it back I totally would.

Lare: What happened in colson's office?

Maggie. James lied for everyone, said it was all an accident.

Lare: NO WAY

Maggie: yes way and he is a creep

Lare: y u say that?

Maggie: He just is

Lare: what evs. He is hawt! so what happened?

Maggie: Colson was a douche. U should have seen him in his office

Lare: C is a douche to evry1.

Maggie: he was worse than usual. And Parker's foster mom is nuts. I saw them when I was leavin

Lare: What?!

Maggie: Yea. She is a b

Maggie lay on her side on the bed, frowning at her phone, debating on whether or not to tell Lare what she had seen in the parking lot. On the one hand, Maggie didn't like seeing anyone being mistreated, but on the other, Parker had been a jerk. Was he really worth thinking about? His phone number crinkled in pocket as she rolled back over to stare at the many awards and certificates she had gained from her years in martial arts that littered the walls, waiting for Lare to respond. Multiple Gi's lay in her laundry hamper, and belts on the display rack next to crammed book shelf. She pulled the paper with his number out of her pocket and unfolded it, studying the untidy scrawl. Her text tone chimed.

Lare: I thnk u like him.

Maggie: omg drop it Lar. I don't

Lare: whatev's u lyin u like him.

Maggie's face flamed up as she read the text. If Lauren thought Maggie liked Parker her teasing would be relentless, and Maggie would never make it through this project with them alive. Irritated she crushed his number in her fist, like that could somehow prove her distaste of him, and tossed it in the trash. She quickly typed out another message, hoping to change the subject, and to distract her friend.

Maggie: BTW josh has to tag along sat. M&D are going out, and ever since the ramen noodle fiasco he isnt aloud 2 b home alone.

Lare: OMG. Lame. He is such a little perv.

Maggie: IKR? C u 2 morro got homework

Lare: k. see u at school. Working on plans for projct. Gonna be awesome!

Maggie closed out her messaging screen and plugged her phone into the charger, before getting out her homework. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Dates In Detention

Friday sucked. That was the conclusion Maggie had come to. She hadn't been able to sleep the night before, which resulted in her waking up late. She had almost missed first bell, and then, on top of that she had been called on in algebra twice, and both times she hadn't known the answer, mostly because she hadn't been paying attention.

She had been trying to avoid Parker all day. Maggie had spotted him a few times in the hall encircled by friends. He would flash a wicked grin her way, whenever he caught her glances, making her turn bright pink. She knew he was up to something. She just knew it. Parker had a reputation. Rumors at the beginning of the year had linked him to tossing stink bombs into Mr. Colson's office, putting a whoopee cushion in his math teachers chair, and changing all the signs in school that had Principal Boons name on it to Principal Boobs. Her decision to step in yesterday was proving to be a very bad one indeed. There was no telling what he was going to do to her. She was envisioning her locker stuffed with tampons and buckets of pig's blood like in the movie Carrie.

Whispers had followed her through the hallways, her fellow classmates swapping versions of the fight amongst themselves, each rendition of the fight more outrageous than the one before. To make matters worse, Nathan had been swaggering through the hallways, acting like some sort of war hero, flaunting the ace bandage that wrapped his wrist like a trophy. He was also cat-calling at her, and throwing fuel on the already out of control fire of gossip. Right before lunch he had made the comment that she wouldn't be able to step in next time and save her little boyfriend. It was only after Nathan and his crowd of friends had moved on down the hall that she realized Parker had been in the hall and heard it to.

It was enough to make her physically ill. She almost wished she had broken his wrist. Then maybe she could feel a little bit better about the injustice of the whole situation. Instead, she had walked briskly down the hall, head down, hoping to get away from both boys, and all of the stares. She couldn't risk any more trouble at school or her parents would kill her.

"Hey, Maggie, did you hear anything I just said to you?" Lare's voice broke through her train of thought, interrupting her one sided argument with herself about what Parker was going to do to her and the utter unfairness of the universe. Maggie blinked as Lare's irritated expression swam into focus in front of her.

"Huh? What? Oh, sorry. I spaced." Maggie told her. Lare huffed.

"Well come on, we have detention to get to."

"Wait. We?" Maggie paused, confused. Lare blew air out of her mouth, causing her swoopy bangs to flutter, her aggravation with Maggie starting to show through with each passing second.

"That's what I was just telling you. I got myself put into detention for not dressing out for gym. A thank you would be nice." Lare retorted, before reapplying her lip gloss.

"Lare, you didn't have to do that." Maggie told her as she spun the dial on her locker, shouldering her bag and turning to face her friend.

"I know. And I didn't do it just for you." Maggie raised an eyebrow as Lare smacked her freshly coated lips together.

"James is cute. It will give me a chance to talk to him." Maggie stared at Lauren in disbelief.

"That's your plan? Get detention to meet boys? And I thought I told you, I think he is creepy." Lare stowed the lip gloss back in her bag before answering.

"Well I could always go with your approach and beat someone up. And you're only reason for not liking him is because he is normal and lied to a teacher." Lare retorted.

"I've already told you, besides you were freaking there! I just stopped a fight." Maggie snapped, heading in the direction of the coaches office.

"Same thing." Lare breezed past Maggie, who followed, feeling sulky as other students made their way in the opposite direction towards the weekend and their freedom.

Coach Taylor's office was clustered and cramped. Piles of graded and ungraded papers littered the room in haphazard piles. A small mounted TV in the corner buzzed lightly on ESPN. There were only four desks, all of them in a single horizontal row. James was already there sitting in the chair farthest from the door.

Lauren automatically took the desk next to James, flashing him a brilliant white smile that he returned with a look of surprise on his face. Reluctantly, Maggie pulled out the chair to her desk and sank into it next to where she knew Parker would have to sit and waited for her doom to arrive.

In typical Parker fashion, he arrived five minutes after detention was supposed to have started and dropped his bag haphazardly onto the desk before plopping down into the seat, jostling Maggie's desk and knocking her algebra homework to the floor.

"Really? Do you have to create chaos everywhere you go?" she groused, before ducking down to pick up the lost papers. Parker dipped down to follow her and helped gather the pages. Maggie snatched them out of his hands trying to get away from him, and banged her head loudly on her desk and dropping the papers again, scattering them even further.

"Dammit." She grumbled. Parker grinned at her as she groped across the gritty tiles. She shot him a filthy look, noticing his jaw had a faint bruise from where Nathan had clocked him. Parker saw that her eyes lingered, and the grin that had been plastered on his face seconds before, slipped slightly. She stared a second longer before feeling her own face heat up. She finally got back into her seat feeling sweaty, and embarrassed again, frowning at her now wrinkled homework.

Coach stuck his head through the door, doing a quick head count, then left again, telling them to not change the channel on his television. Detention with coach was easy. He didn't care what you did, so long as you didn't make a mess or fight. Or change his TV from ESPN. Beside her, Lare was already chattering like a squirrel in James ear.

Feeling awkward and left out, Maggie glanced back at Parker. His lanky frame was draped over the desk, half angled in her direction, one hand propping up his head, the other doodling on a scrap of paper. His eyes were half closed, and he had dark purple circles beneath them. She took a chance, searching his face a second longer, trying to find signs of where his adopted mom had slapped him the afternoon before, but saw none.

"Staring is rude, you know." His voice, now that he was addressing her, wasn't what she expected. It was light and honeyed, much more youthful than what his tired visage portrayed. Maggie felt heat crawl up her face at being caught staring.

"Yeah, well knocking someone's homework in the floor is even more rude. And I wasn't staring." She added, more for her own benefit than anything. His eyes flickered up to hers then. Maggie squirmed and dropped her gaze to her hands. Who was staring now?

"My deepest apologies." He said, sarcasm lighting his tone. Maggie started to bristle, her defenses going up.

"Listen, about yesterday-" She began, deciding to set him straight on why she had stood up for him.

"It's alright. I get it. You like me, I'm attractive. I know it. Nothing to be ashamed about." Parker smirked, his lips turning up in the corners ever so slightly. Maggie's blinked at him, dumbfounded at his arrogance.

"Don't even." Maggie laughed humorlessly, shuffling her homework and trying to press the wrinkled pages back to lying flat. Embarrassment pooled in her stomach, making it churn uncomfortably.

"Don't even what?" He asked innocently.

"I know what you are going to try to do. I know you." She snarled. The last thing she needed was for people to go around saying that she liked this idiot.

"Oh, do tell. This I have to hear."

"You're that guy. The one who has to constantly start something. To run your mouth and get in trouble. You have to be the center of attention. Everything is a big joke to you." Maggie retorted. Parker laughed again.

"You are such a child. I tried to help you. Twice. And all you do is act like a first class, ungrateful brat. So you know what? Screw you!" Maggie finally lost it, cutting him off. Damn, being the bigger person. It was overrated anyway. "I was only trying to help. So excuse me for not standing by while someone nearly had their ass handed to them." She told him.

Parker spluttered, and Maggie noticed with some satisfaction that his pale, gaunt cheeks were gathering a faint pink tinge to them. She turned away from him for what she hoped was the final time. She was perfectly content if he decided to ignore her for the rest of eternity. She didn't need his kind of negativity, anyway. Next to her Lare was filling James in on what they were doing for their project.

"We are doing our project on the abandoned reform school outside of town." Lare gushed.

"Isn't that place, I don't know, dangerous? Sort of out-of- bounds?" James asked, looking skeptical.

"Of course. That's why Lare picked it. She loves a good adventure." Maggie cut in.

"You not like adventure or something?" Parker asked. Maggie turned back to him frowning, surprised at his willingness to still talk to them.

"Oh, yes, I thrive on dangerous situations, and the prospect of jail time." Maggie answered sourly.

"I could drive and meet you guys." James offered, leaning around to meet Maggie's gaze. Lare beamed again.

"Oh, you know what? Why don't you come pick me up? That'd be perfect. I've been working it out, and I think I know how I want to do our presentation. What if we do it like a horror movie? Or set it up like an episode of ghost hunters? How freaking awesome would that be?" Lare's excitement was brimming over. James nodded, looking a little bewildered at what he had just agreed to.

"I guess that will work." Maggie agreed.

"Oh, good, well then that's settled. You work things out with Parker and your brother, and I guess just meet us there tomorrow around say three?" Lare gave her a pointed look before turning back to James, giving him all of the details of where she lived.

Maggie turned back to Parker, who looked as disgruntled as she felt. She knew how much this meant to Lauren and she also knew Lauren wasn't exactly thrilled with dragging Parker into it. Never mind the fact that she totally regretted it now.

"So now I have you, your schyzo-psycho BFF and that total tool to deal with on Saturday. This just keeps getting better and better. Maybe we can take Colson with us and pack a picnic lunch." Parker's voice dripped venom, his disgust with the new plans evident.

She was dreading the weekend herself now, which was ironic, because thirty minutes ago, she had been looking forward to it. Now she was feeling slightly peeved that Lare was turning their homework project into a preemptive date. However, she was not going to let Parker destroy her best friends dream.

"Listen I'm not thrilled about this either, but it's the plan. So don't do anything stupid that will ruin it. Because I will make sure you regret it." Maggie told him fiercely.

"Last thing I want to do is hang out with that ass hat in an abandoned building while he stares at you, but don't worry I'll be on my best behavior." Parker grumbled.

"Who is staring at who?" Maggie asked, feeling lost at the change of direction of the conversation.

"God, you're oblivious. He does it when your back is turned and your friend does that stupid fake eye, laugh thing." Parker muttered softly so that Lare and James wouldn't hear him.

"What, Lare flirting?" Maggie tried to clarify.

"You say flirting, I say needless seizures. That gorilla hasn't noticed her at all. He keeps staring at you." Maggie fought a grin from crossing her face at Parker's apt description of Lare and her slightly spastic and quirky dating methods, before remembering that she wasn't supposed to be agreeing with anything Parker said or did.

"Yup, he's staring at you again." Maggie felt herself blush. Something else that Parker noticed.

"You don't like him do you?" he asked, looking slightly nauseated by the idea, mistaking her expression.

"Oh God no. I barely know him. And he's not my type anyway." Maggie told him before unscrewing the lid on her bottle of water, and taking a large swig and then promptly choking on it. Parker reached across her desk and grabbed the lid and began spinning it on his own desk like a top.

"So, is there anything I should bring for this project tomorrow?" he asked.

"No. Lare will be supplying the camera. Mostly we just follow her around while she takes random pictures." She told him.

"So why exactly do we all have to go?" Parker wanted to know.

"Because Lare is a big chicken and doesn't like going to these places alone." Beside her, Lare made a pft sound.

"I'm not stupid. I know better than going to these types of places alone. I've seen enough slasher flicks to know what happens. Besides, you guys are all going to be my models." Lare interjected.

"If you think it could be dangerous is it really a good idea to be going?" James interjected at this point, an uncomfortable look on his face.

"Scared, James?" Parker taunted. Before James could respond, Lare answered.

"We are going in a group. We will be fine. Besides, Maggie can karate kick any ghosts that come after us." She said, confidence in her voice.

"Ghost's aren't real, Lare." Maggie felt like she had explained this a thousand times to her friend.

"And if they were, I still can't do anything to them."

"Then why do I bother to keep you around?" Lare quipped. Maggie shot Lare a look.

"Oh, my God I'm kidding Mags, lighten up." She said after a moment.

"Anyway," Lare trailed off and turned back to James.

"So, uh. Yeah, tomorrow." Maggie cleared her throat. Parker looked back up at her.

"Are you going to drive yourself? Or do you want to car pool or something? I can pick you up if you want, or if you would rather drive separate and just meet there." Maggie suggested as Lauren let out a shrill giggle.

"That is gonna get real old, real quick." Parker hissed. Maggie felt her insides shrivel at his words, knowing it would only get worse from here. Lare was insufferable when she had a new boyfriend.

"It had to be him." He grumbled, putting his chin in his hand, looking more miserable by the minute.

"I don't think James is all that bad, but I definitely don't trust him after yesterday." Maggie said, hoping to alleviate some of the tension that she knew was building up again.

"Yeah, it's his ass hat brother, that's the real problem." Parker growled.

"I can't stand him. And the way he has been strutting around all day has been ridiculous. I wish I had broken his hand now." Maggie agreed. Parker grunted in a noncommittal sort of way before slumping back into his chair.

"So yeah I can pick you up if you want." Parker said after a minute. Maggie chewed her lip, still trying to figure out how tomorrow was going to work. Her dad had already said he wanted her to stay away from Parker after getting involved in yesterday's incident. Now she was faced with the prospect of trespassing with him, with her younger brother in tow.

"Yeah I mean that can work, it's just," Maggie paused here, and glanced sideways at Parker, who shrugged.

"My dad sort of said last night, that I can't be around you." Maggie trailed off.

"So? Sounds like your problem to me." Maggie's anger flared again. She was starting to wonder if doing the right thing was worth it after all. It only seemed to complicate her life. And Maggie didn't like complicated.

"So, I was wondering could you sort of just, not say anything to my brother about who you are?" Maggie felt incredibly stupid as the words left her mouth, and instantly regretted them. She was usually straight forward and never lied. It made her feel dirty. Somehow in the span of twenty four hours, she had managed to get tangled up in a situation with this guy who didn't know her, she didn't know him and she was now basically asking him to lie to her brother. All for a homework project. How much more ridiculous could the situation get?

"Let me get this straight. You have inserted yourself into my life, got me stuck going with you and those two idiots to the middle of nowhere, working on a project that I don't even want to do with you people, and now you want me to lie for you so you aren't in trouble with Mommy and Daddy?" Parker's voice had dropped dangerously low.

"You know, if you had a super power, it would be getting yourself into stupid situations from not thinking, and opening your big mouth and involving yourself in situations that no one asked your input for." His voice was scathing, cold and hard, the jokester from moments before was gone. Maggie, who usually had a perfect comeback for everything, could only sit and gape in silence like an idiot. So much for the truce she had thought she had formed.

"Listen, I was just trying to do the right thing. I didn't mean for it to get so out of control." Maggie shot back, feeling slightly desperate and helpless.

"You know, you keep saying that, but somehow I end up getting crapped on. Maybe you should stop and think first if the person you are just 'trying to do the right thing for' even wants your help. But whatever. Fine. I'll do it. But after this project is done, just stay away from me." He spat, his blue eyes turning into chips of ice.

Coach stuck his head in at that moment, dismissing them from detention. Parker stood abruptly, shouldering his ratty back pack. Maggie scratched out her address for him.

"Parker, wait. I'm sorry." Maggie tried to stand to follow him and succeeded in knocking her backpack over, loose papers and pens spilling out across the floor in all directions. Parker shot her a final look of loathing, snatching the scrap of paper out of her hands before disappearing out of room, stuffing it in his back pocket as he went.

Behind her Lare and James had fallen silent, and Maggie knew they had seen and heard everything. One of the desks scraped and Maggie turned to see James crouching in the floor, picking up the mess that had fallen out of her toppled backpack. Lauren stood as well, a slight frown on her face. James handed Maggie her back pack, a kind smile of his face.

"Don't worry about it, Maggie. He just has a chip on his shoulder. It's not your fault."

"I know it's not my fault he's being an ass. I just feel bad for getting him stuck in this mess. Because now I have to deal with him." Maggie grumbled miserably.

"Hut! Hut! Hut!"

Maggie was sweating profusely, her Gi soaked with sweat as her instructor screamed out count after count of combination moves. Outside block, reverse punch, knee strike, elbow strike, side kick. Maggie's partner Blake, matched each strike with a block of his on. The section of her forearm that she had used to block Nathan on Thursday was throbbing with every contact.

"Get those kicks higher Dailey! You are aiming for his head!" Mr. Carl corrected as he passed by her and on to one of the younger students. He called the count one last time and Maggie moved through the motions, letting out a loud shout on the last strike, trying to work out all of the frustration from the last week. Blake shook his wrist, and looked at her ruefully. She mouthed sorry to him and smiled.

"Excellent! How are those legs feeling?" Mr. Carl asked the class, a grin spreading across his face. Some of the younger students groaned. Maggie was too tired to groan. She huffed, trying to catch her breath, the balls of her feet stinging, and her strike points throbbing with each pound of her racing heart.

"Everyone face the front. Bow. Dismissed!"

"Good class, Maggie. You should be ready for the belt test in January." Mr. Carl said encouragingly as he passed, headed to speak with one of the waiting parents. Maggie nodded and smiled, before grimacing trying to peel her Gi top off. The T-shirt she wore underneath was soaked and clinging to her. Her right wrist was already purpling from the multiple strikes. She knew she would have to ice it when she got home if she wanted to be able to write with that hand later.

She guzzled her third bottle of water before throwing on a ratty sweatshirt and heading out of the gym to her bug. Outside, the October sky was a clear beautiful blue, the trees a mirage of greens, yellows, reds and oranges, popped against it in vibrant splendor. At least if she was going to be tromping through the woods this afternoon, she would have a beautiful day to do it, she thought wistfully.

She turned down South Street, which ran parallel to Main, taking the short cut back to her house. That was when she noticed him walking behind the buildings in the alley. He had a hood pulled up over his head, but she still recognized Parker's profile, even from a distance. He ducked between a broken board in a fence that lead to a small and dirty yard in one of the cracker box houses that lined the opposite side of the street.

A junky, rusted mini-van was parked in the muddy drive. Two little boys played on a broken swing set, while a third teen boy sat on the steps of the derelict porch, a ratty book in his hand. Parker strolled up and sat on the steps next to him. Bags of trash were piled up beside the door, and weeds were growing in the yard with abandon, sprouting up in knee high tufts in places.

He looked up as she passed by, his eyes following her car. Embarrassed, Maggie gunned the little bug and yanked the wheel, swerving onto Fifth Ave, nearly plowing into oncoming traffic. The sedan she had almost clipped, honked in irritation. Maggie waved, mouthing an apology that she knew the other driver could neither see nor hear, before heading to the other side of town where her own family lived. Maggie wondered what Parker had been doing in that neighborhood to begin with.

When she got home, Maggie poked her head into Josh's room to make sure he was going to be ready to go in the next hour and half. He completely ignored her, shouting into his mike at his friends online. She huffed in exasperation before heading down to her bathroom. A hot shower was going to feel amazing after her grueling class. She took a couple of extra minutes to stretch out her legs, not wanting the muscles to seize and cramp up later, then peeled her sweat shirt and damp t-shirt off, along with the uniform pants, before dumping it all in the hamper and hopping in the shower.

Her biceps and shoulders burned as she combed the tangles out of her hair with her fingers, the strands clinging to her skin. So much for straightening her hair this afternoon, she thought. That was just going to be more hassle than it was worth. Lauren would probably be pissed, because she preferred to photograph her when her hair was straight, but Maggie's arms were just too tired and sore.

Shutting off the water, Maggie toweled herself off, then wrapped her hair up in a turban to soak up any excess moisture before getting dressed. She shimmied into some straight leg skinny jeans, and a navy and white plaid shirt, before struggling to pull on and zip up a sturdy pair of brown boots over her calves. Martial arts gave her killer calves, the only problem was, the bulging muscles made it nearly impossible to find boots and jeans that fit her without some sort of act from God.

Once dressed, she finished scrunching her hair, leaving the brown and gold ringlets to air dry while slapping on a minimal amount of makeup, preferring to coat on extra mascara than foundation, making her grey eyes pop. Grabbing her backpack and fleece jacket, she pounded up the stairs, checking her phone for the time.

"Josh, let's go! We are out of time!" she shouted, knocking on his bedroom door on her way to the kitchen. She downed a granola before slipping on her jacket.

"Josh! NOW!" She yelled, checking her phone again. Outside, a car horn blared. Parker had arrived.

"Oh, my God fine, I'm coming! Keep your panties from getting bunched." Josh called. Down the hall, the sounds of death and catastrophic destruction were cut short as Josh turned off the speakers to his computer. He stumbled out of his room, pulling a hoodie over his head, knocking his glasses askew.

"Come on, Twerp. You are going to make me late." She told him, digging her keys out of her backpack.

"I don't want to go." He whined.

"That's too bad. Now let's go." She snapped, opening the front door and gestured for him to go first so she could lock up. Josh grumbled all the way up the sidewalk, complaining about not wanting to be dragged along with his big sister like he was some sort of baby. Maggie rolled her eyes, not bothering to answer him.

"Listen, don't be a pain today, okay? We are working on a class project and I want to get it done sooner rather than later. I don't have time to baby you, alright? Now get in the back seat." Maggie told Josh, motioning to the back seat of Parker's Tahoe.

Parker sat in the driver's seat, a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. He looked different outside of school, not wearing the standard uniform. He wore a dark green hoodie and jeans, the hood of his jack was pulled up over his head. The kid she had seen him sitting with earlier in the yard was sitting in the back seat next to Josh.

"Hi." She tried smiling at Parker.

"This is Alex. He was one of my foster brother's before I got adopted." Parker said motioning to the kid in the back seat, not returning her greeting.

"Hi Alex. I'm Maggie and this is my parent's way of ruining my dreams of being an only child. His name is Josh. It's nice to meet you." Maggie said, smiling at Alex. The younger boy stared at her shyly for a second before saying hello.

"Hey, I know you. You're in my class at school." Josh said to Alex.

"Yeah, I know. Aren't you the Gameboy kid?" Alex asked Josh as Parker cranked the car, and Maggie clicked her seatbelt into place.

"Yeah, that's me. Do you play?" Josh inquired. Parker shifted the car into reverse and then turned towards Maggie, angling his body to check behind them before pulling out of the space. He edged the car back out on the road, heading back towards the way they had come. Parker stared out of the window, not talking, his brow furrowed in a now familiar scowl, his jaw one hard, straight line.

"Hopefully we won't be out here long," Maggie told him, hoping to get him to talk. Parker just shrugged, not answering. Maggie bit back her frustration. He could at least be civil. The small town whizzed by, the fall foliage a blur of color. In the distance, thin clouds were scudding across the sky, like gray fingers, reaching towards them.

"Hey, Maggie, can we go back by the house so I can get my Gameboy for me and Alex to play?" Josh piped from the back seat. Maggie sighed, rubbing her temple in frustration.

"Josh, what did I say about being a pain in the butt?"

"Hey, this will keep me out of your hair, that way you can have your privacy." He countered, making air quotes when he said the word privacy. Maggie felt her face heat up. She glared at Josh from the rearview mirror.

"No." she told him firmly, while she fiddled and twirled the dials on the air conditioner, setting it so that cold air blasted directly in her face, praying that it would combat the ever present embarrassing red patches that she could feel forming, and spreading up her neck and to her cheeks.

"I'll cut a deal with you Thunder Thighs. If you take me by the house, I won't tell mom and dad about your secret boyfriend, here." Parker nearly crashed into the car in front of them. He slammed on the brakes, tire's screeching. All around, seatbelts locked up and the sounds of air being knocked out of four sets of lungs filled the car.

"JOSH!" She screeched. Beside her, Parker actually chuckled. She was going to kill Josh for this.

"What's it going to be? Gamboys? Or me telling on you and your secret romance?" Josh quipped, a satisfied smirk on his lips. Maggie took a deep breath, glaring in the rearview mirror. Just as she suspected, her chest, neck and cheeks were an alarming shade of red, and the patches were spreading.

"First off. I hate you. Second, this is not a date, and Parker is NOT my boyfriend. We have to do a project together for school." Maggie snarled.

"Tick, tock, Thunder Thighs. Times wasting. What's it gonna be?" Josh taunted. Maggie jerked around in her seat, and using her balled up fist, she punched Josh three times on the fleshy part of his upper thigh in the same spot.

"Owee!" he howled. Maggie turned back around in her seat, as Parker stepped on the gas, catching up with the flow of traffic. She glanced over and caught him staring at her.

"What?" she snapped.

"You are so violent." he said, making a sharp U-turn and turning back down her street.

"And your driving is going to get someone killed." She yelped, as Parker slammed on the brakes again.

"Josh, you have exactly one minute to get in the house and get your Gameboy, or I am leaving your butt here, and telling mom and dad you refused to come with me." Maggie ordered, ignoring Parker's laughter.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Josh shouted, before squeezing out of the back seat and shooting up the front steps to their house.

"Nice neighborhood." Parker muttered, staring out of the window, a rueful look on his face. Alex sat quietly in the back seat, still not uttering a peep.

"Thanks." Maggie muttered, feeling ashamed of her house for the first time in her life, especially after figuring out what Parker was used to.

Josh came rocketing out of the front door and down the stairs, nearly tripping. Maggie leaned her head against the cool glass of the window, a groan escaping her. This was going to be a very long afternoon.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The Shadow

Maggie gripped the plush leather of the seat with her fingers until they had gone numb, hanging on for dear life as the SUV roared down the highway. Parker drove like a crazed lunatic that had escaped a maximum security prison. Raucous music, a mixture of heavy metal and rap, pounded through the stereo speakers, making every escalated beat of her heart that much more pronounced in her chest, almost like a double pulse. Stretching her hand out, she reached intently to spin the dial and lower the volume, but Parker swatted her hand away.

"Hey, both hands on the wheel!" She screeched, as the SUV drifted across the yellow center line. The one thought that kept crossing her mind was that if she got her or her brother killed on this little outing, her parents were never going to forgive her.

"Would you chill out? And don't touch my music." Parker smirked at her as he lazily steered the Tahoe back on track.

Head throbbing and stomach churning, Maggie gritted her teeth together tightly, the molars grinding painfully. Never had she ever regretted a decision more in her life than to get into that death trap with the poltergeist who sat grinning manically across from her. She continued to glare at him until after a moment, he twiddled the knob, bringing the volume down a few notches. It still wasn't as low as Maggie would have liked, but at least now, she didn't think her heart was going to explode out of her ribcage. She glanced into the rearview mirror to check on Josh. He, at least, appeared to be having the time of his life. Twerp.

Parker wasn't much for conversation. Which was fine with Maggie. She didn't really think she could talk without vomiting anyway. She sat in silence as they zipped down the highway towards their destination, staring out at the amassing grey clouds. What had started out as puffy formations scudding across the sky, had now started piling up in the east to look like night was making a march towards the west hours earlier than scheduled, the dark undersides spreading and swirling like a purpling bruise.

When the G.P.S. prompted Parker to take the next exit, he stomped on the gas and cut off a Buick. The old man driving blared the horn and flipped Parker the bird as they passed.

"Signals are nice. You should try them." Maggie told him sourly, as he guided the Tahoe along the twisting countryside.

"Lighten up. Geez, you are so uptight." He complained.

"And you are a giant man child. So I would say we're even." She retorted.

"This is all your fault, remember? I didn't want to have any part of this." Parker pointed out as he took the last turn onto a barely used road that was supposed to lead up to the old school.

"Yes, thank you. I'm aware." Maggie snapped, feeling more irritated by the second as the Tahoe bumped along the rough road. The cracked asphalt was littered with potholes and the painted lines had long since worn off from disuse. Maggie had to clamp her teeth together to keep them from chattering. Sweeping fields led up to several brick plantation style buildings, and a scraggly pine forest with mist creeping slowly across the ground from within the branches, created a hollow echoing feeling in the pit of Maggie's stomach. The closer they came toward the main building, the worse Maggie felt. The low muttering of Josh and Alex in the back seat had ceased and with a final crackle the radio that had blasted Parkers music the entire way here, died. Silence filled the interior of the Tahoe as Parker drove through the rusted iron arch and into the parking lot. He pulled into the lot and parked next to James's mustang.

The parking lot was in worse shape than the road. It had crumbled to gravel in some places and was littered with trash, broken beer bottles and weeds grew with wild abandon in places, some of them nearly knee high. The painted spaces had long since faded from the cracked asphalt. A rusted chain length fence surrounded the perimeter topped with barbed wire. Not that it was doing much good. It had collapsed in some places all together and one section had given way completely to a tree growing up from its base. Over all, it gave off the general message of KEEP OUT. Even without the help of the No Trespassing signs.

Maggie could just barely make out Lare and James where they were sitting in his parked mustang, waiting for them.

"Whoa." Josh said from the back seat looking out at the crumbling buildings. Maggie stared through the windshield at the main house. Busted windows that were partially hidden by sprawling ivy seemed to glare down at them, like the eyes of a hulking monster, almost daring them to step closer. Paint peeled from the four columns on the front porch looking like the cracked ragged teeth of a meth user. The left hand side of the roof sagged in, collapsed in one place and holes could be seen sprinkled across the top. Maggie stepped out of the Tahoe, and shut the door. It clapped loudly in the silence echoing off the brick work of the front of the main house startling a flock of ravens nearby. They cawed loudly as they took flight.

The wind kicked up and started whipping her hair around her face and in her eyes as Josh, Alex and Parker came to stand next to her and stare at the foreboding buildings. Lare's Nikon flashed, and Maggie blinked in surprise.

"Y'all's faces were perfect!" Lare exclaimed as she came around the front of the car. Her friend if possible had on even more makeup than usual and instead of her usual attire of band t-shirt and hoodie, she had on ripped, black skinny jeans, and a shear, black, long-sleeved ruffled shirt dotted with little skulls. It was obvious to Maggie that she was trying her hardest to get James to notice her. He followed her out of the car and stood at a polite distance, looking very uncomfortable.

"Lare, I don't know about this. That place doesn't look safe at all." Maggie said, shivering.

"Oh come on, don't wimp out on me now. It's fine. I've seen where tons of other people have been here, and they are all fine." Lare blew her off. James was looking pretty hesitant as well, shifting his weight from foot to foot, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his jeans. Parker still hadn't said anything, but Maggie could tell he was less than pleased.

"This is going to be interesting." He muttered after a moment, his eyes sweeping over the scene.

"Well come on, let's go, before we start losing the good light. Looks like a storm might be coming up." Lare said, stringing her Nikon around her neck and pulling out her video recorder.

Maggie moved first, heading towards the steps, wanting nothing more than to be done with this most recent hair-brained scheme.

"Josh, you stay with me. Do not wander off." Maggie told him. She had multiple reservations about this, and more were piling on the closer her feet brought her to the steps of the hulking shell of the building. Old pieces of plywood could be seen hanging in the first floor windows from where someone had attempt to keep trespassers at bay. Parker stuck close to her, eyeing the roof warily.

"Scared?" she asked.

"Pfts. No way. Lady's first." He said gesturing to her to go through the doors first. Taking a deep breath, Maggie stepped into the gloom of the old building, Parker, Josh and Alex on her heels. James and Lare brought up the rear. Lare was videoing and narrating from the back the name of the old school and the year it had shut down. Maggie stepped down the dark entrance hall. Dirt and leaves littered the creaking and rotted floor. Graffiti covered the walls. On their left, a large open room held an old piano. Maggie walked up to it, and let her fingers ghost across the keys, surprised when they let out an extremely out of tune chime. Parker walked by her and looked out the window.

Maggie edged up beside him with Josh in tow. Outside a raven cawed loudly as the wind whistled around and through the house. Lare pressed pause on her video recorder to snap a picture of the piano, and the graffiti in the hall. In the distance a streak of lightning cut across the sky, followed by a low rumble of thunder. Behind them, a loud bang made them jump and Lare screamed. Whipping around, Maggie saw James standing next to the piano looking embarrassed.

"Sorry, I was just shutting the lid and it slipped." He grumbled. Lare let out a high pitched, strained giggle. Parker tossed Maggie a disgusted look before nudging past her and back out into the hall. Maggie sighed before following him and snapping at Josh to stay close to her again. They continued the tour and made their way through to the library. Maggie pulled out a flashlight and danced the beam across the faded covers of the books on the shelves. It smelled strongly of mold and mildew in here. A heap of old blankets and torn up books were in the corner, set like an almost nest, from someone who had obviously been sleeping here. Lare's camera flashed again, causing Maggie to blink rapidly to clear the dancing dots in front of her eyes. She took a step back and accidentally stepped on Parkers toes, almost tripping. He gripped her arm tightly, keeping her from falling.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"Just watch where you're walking." He half growled dropping his hand and brushing past her gruffly. Maggie huffed. Why did he have to be so prickly and defensive? It was an accident.

Josh and Alex had elected to stay in the hall. Maggie continued to go through the books, as Lare moved around, filming and narrating. Parker had joined her brother in the hall. With a last furtive glance at her bother to make sure he was still alright, Maggie stepped up to the book case for closer inspection. Most of the titles consisted of self-help books, and books on farming and plumbing and trade. She continued down the line glancing over occasionally to see that Parker had disappeared, as had James.

She frowned, and was about to step into the hall to see where they had gone, when a book caught her attention at the very bottom in the corner wedged between a math book and a history book. She stooped down and pulled it gently from the shelf. The books on either side were damp, water stained and covered in mold. Their soft covers tore and fell apart at her gentle touch. The book she had pulled was only slightly better. It appeared to be a journal. She flipped through some of it, shining the beam of her flashlight, being careful to not tear the fragile pages. Some were illegible, but some she could barely make out the handwriting inside. She would need better lighting before she could read it.

Very gently she tucked it into her bag before heading back out into the hall. Lare followed her turning off the video camera.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. I think it's a journal of someone who went to this place."

"Oh really? Let me see!"

"No, it's fragile. I need to take it home and let it dry out. It's about to fall apart." Maggie told her. Lare frowned before shrugging.

"You will have to let me know what all it says. It would be cool to have first-hand accounts of what happened here for the project." Maggie nodded, thinking the same thing.

"So how is it going with Parker?" Lare wanted to know.

"About as well as can be expected. He is staying away from me and not saying much. Which I'm fine with." Maggie said.

"Well you can't really blame him for being ticked. You did sort of take his man card the other day." Lare shrugged.

"Oh whatever. He can get over that stupid male pride thing. I just kept him from getting his skinny butt handed to him." Maggie retorted, as they joined her brother and Alex in the hall.

"Where did James and Parker go?" Maggie questioned the two. Josh pointed up the rickety stairs to the second floor. Outside lightning flashed, throwing the dingy hall into sharp focus for a split second. All of a sudden Alex made the first sound he had made since walking into the building. He let out a high scream, and pointed down the hall into the gloom behind the girls. Maggie and Lare jumped in unison. Maggie spun on her heels and threw her arm out, catching Josh in the chest and shoving him behind her protectively, staring into the encompassing darkness that Alex had pointed at. As her eyes adjusted, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the gritty gloom. Just more litter and graffiti.

"Alex, what did you see?" Maggie demanded. Lare trained her video camera on the frightened boys face and then swept it down the hall, hoping to capture whatever it had been that caused the kid to freak out.

"This guy, he was covered in blood, and he had white eyes!" Alex stuttered. Maggie frowned at Alex before calling down the hall.

"Hello? Anybody down there?" Only howling wind answered her. She turned back to Alex, with doubt eating at her insides.

"Did Parker put you up to that?" She demanded. Alex shook his head vigorously, his bangs sweeping across his forehead, his eyes wide in his face.

"Mags, come on, I think he saw something." Lare insisted lowering her recorder. Maggie glanced at Lare incredulously, before scanning the gloom in front of her one last time. When she turned around she saw Alex smirking silently. Of course, she thought, triumphing coursing through her. Parker had put Alex up to it. She was going to kill him. Next to Alex, Josh laughed nervously. Twerps. Both of them. Suddenly overhead, a loud crash, shook the ceiling, causing dust and particles to rain from the ceiling. Feeling tired and exasperated, Maggie turned to Lare.

"Lare, I'm done. Can we just go? Parker is going to just ruin this project. The only reason he even showed up today was to give me a hard time. Let's just do this another time." Disappointment flashed over Lare's face.

"I'm going upstairs to ask if James will just take me and Josh home. I'm sorry, but I just can't do this." Thunder rumbled loudly from outside, sounding not unlike a growling monster. Over head the ceiling creaked and groaned loudly.

"This place gives me the creeps." Josh said, shivering and shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket.

"Lare, can you stay here with them? I 'm going to go find the other two. We need to go. This was a bad idea." Maggie told her. Lare gave her another pouting expression but agreed.

"Parker? James?" Maggie called into the reverberating silence that followed. When no one answered, Maggie knew she was going to have to go looking for the two idiots.

"Stay here." She ordered her brother, feeling irritated.

"Maggie, wait!" Josh begged as she took off up the stairs testing them lightly with each step before putting her full weight on them. Below, Josh, Alex and Lare watched with baited breath. After what felt like an eternity Maggie reached the landing. Dirty light filtered in from the grungy window at the end of the long hall. She tried calling for James and Parker again, with no result. Tentatively she took a step into the shadows. The mold smell was permeating up here as well, causing her nose to tingle, and her eyes to itch and run. Chills ran up and down her spine at the sight of the peeling wall paper, and rusted iron chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

Cautiously she pushed open the door to the first room she came to. Nothing was in the room except rusted bunks. The windows in this room had been shattered. Glass lay under the windows, glistening in the last faint ray of sunlight that was still strong enough to break through the storm clouds. This must have been a dorm room. Except apart from the bunks it was lacking in any other furniture. A soft fluttering sound came from behind her, and Maggie spun around, half expecting to find Parker creeping up on her. That would be just the thing for him to do, to try to scare her. Only she found nothing. There was absolutely nothing that she saw that could have made that sound, be it a rodent or a bird. Slowly Maggie backed out of the room, leaving the door ajar so that the light could filter into the now almost pitch black hallway.

Gripping her flashlight tightly, she made her way to the next room which was another dorm room. She was about to turn back toward the hallway when she noticed another door at the opposite end of the room. Striding over to it, she jerked it open expecting to find a closet. Instead, there was another room with a single bunk and what appeared to be chains encircling the iron bed stand. There was no window in this room. Feeling claustrophobic, Maggie spun and darted back out, closing the door behind her.

"Guys, this isn't funny. We need to leave." Maggie yelled, stepping back out into the hall. Feeling jumpy and slightly sick, Maggie made her way through the bathroom. Multiple sinks stood against the walls. Cracked mirrors hanging above some, while others lay in shattered heaps at their bases. Rust stains filled the sinks and covered the tiles, adding a metallic cent to the already rotting bouquet. She stepped up to the sinks and gazed at her reflection in the dirty mirror. Squinting she stepped closer thinking she had seen something in the reflective surface behind her, almost like a shadow. The sound of squeaking floorboards had her whipping around and backing up against the freezing porcelain, searching the gloomy room in panic, but she found nothing. Again.

"Dammit." She muttered, stepping away, feeling foolish. Her boots crunched over the glass. Out in the hall she caught a glimpse of another shadow moving in and out of the light.

"Parker, get over here. The jokes over." She called, chasing after the shadow as it ducked into another room that she had somehow missed on her way down the hall. She stopped just outside, beaming her flash light onto another set of stairs leading up towards the attic. She could see foot prints on the treads of the stairs, leading up into the darkness, but none coming back down. Growling she followed them, swearing that she was going to murder Parker when she got her hands on him. Once at the top, she shoved open the door and entered into the attic, fuming. Outside, lightning flashed, lighting up the tiny room. Maggie stepped back, her hand going to her mouth to stop a scream from escaping at what she saw. Cages lined the small room. Multiple cages like you would keep an animal in. Some had blankets, and books, others stuffed animals. She flashed her light over the cages, looking for Parker. He was sick, if he thought hiding up here was funny. Not seeing him, she stepped in closer, the floor boards beneath her groaning loudly.

"Parker," she hissed, getting aggravated. The sound of someone crying reached her. Confused, Maggie flashed her light again.

"Listen, don't be such a big baby. I'm not going to do anything to you. Let's just go." Maggie called, straining to see him in the dark. The shadow she had seen earlier moved in the darkness. Gotcha, Maggie thought as she surged forward and whipped back the blanket she had seen move.

She screamed and fell back on her butt at the sight that met her eyes, dropping her flashlight where it shattered, engulfing her in semi darkness. A gaunt little boy had been hiding behind the cage, dressed in filthy clothes that looked more like the old rags her mom used to dust the house with. Maggie sat gasping on the dirty damp floor, her eyes straining to see in the consuming darkness.

"Listen I'm sorry I screamed. Are you alright? Do you need help?" Maggie asked the little boy timidly, as she slowly scrambled to her feet. The little boy cried in response, and mumbled something about not letting him be hurt.

"I'm not going to hurt you, can you come out." Maggie tried to coax him, moving forward. Another flash of lightning illuminated the small room and with the crash of thunder, rain began to pound the roof directly overhead. The little boy started to scream then, an earth shattering, haunting cry. Maggie stepped toward him reaching out to grab his wrist, and felt the floor give way beneath her. Then her screams were mixed with his as blackness enveloped her.

"Maggie! Maggie, can you hear us?"

Maggie blinked up above her at the ceiling. Three faces peered down at her illuminated by the glow of flashlights. She was lying on her back and her shoulder was throbbing from where she had landed on it when she had fallen through the floor. Parker, Lare and James stood above arguing about how they were going to get down to get her out of the hole she was in. Sitting up slowly, Maggie groaned, rotating her stiff shoulder.

"Are you hurt?" Lare demanded hysterically.

"No, not bad, but I have no idea how I am going to get out of here." Maggie said. She scanned the darkness of the small room she was in. Rotted support beams encircled with rusted chains stood at attention in the tiny space. She couldn't see any doors or windows. What was this place? And what was its purpose? Who put a tiny room with no doors or windows in a house under the floor? Looking back up, she noticed that the portion of the floor that had caved in, appeared to have been a trap door at one time. This was just weird and creepy, Maggie thought. Speaking of creepy, Maggie shot to her feet and scanned the darkness a second time, squinting into the corners. Nothing. No little emaciated kid. Just dirt, cob webs, and chains.

"Where is the little boy?" Maggie asked. Above her, the three teens exchanged confused looks.

"What little boy?" James questioned. Maggie stood stiffly.

"The one that was screaming. The little one. He was like ten. I saw him right before I fell." Maggie insisted. She saw James flash his light around the room and then back down to her.

"Maggie, there is no one in here but us." He told her.

"Mags are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Lare asked. Maggie glared up at them.

"Yes, I'm sure. I swear, he was up there. I followed him from the old bathroom. He was hiding up there."

"Come on, let's worry about this later, we need to get Maggie up." Parker said, shouldering past James and disappearing. Seconds later he reappeared, a rope in his hands.

"Maggie if we throw this down, do you think you can climb it?" he questioned. Maggie glanced around the small crawl space she had fallen into and nodded. He and James disappeared momentarily and she heard them scuffling around above as they found something to attach the rope to. Maggie crossed her arms shivering as she studied the tiny room she was in. Her back pack was laying in the corner. Reaching for it, she dusted off the remains of the splintered trap door and dirt before shouldering it, wincing as she did. She had bruised herself good, she thought ruefully as they tossed the rope down the hole to her. The hole was only about six foot deep but it was still going to be a struggle with a bum shoulder. Above her Parker and James were having a furious argument.

"-No you stand back. You weigh too much to compromise the floor. It won't help her at all if you cave in the floor." Parker was snarling.

"I'm on the football team, I'm strong enough to pull her up. You can't." Maggie roller her eyes as Parker snapped back, and then shoved James full on in the chest.

"Guys knock it off!" Maggie shouted, anger stirring. She was sore, dirty and though she would never admit it, somewhat frightened. She wanted to get her brother and get the heck out of this place.

Lare finally grabbed James's arm and pulled him back away from the opening, while Parker laid down flat on his belly and extended his hand over the hole, and waited for her to get high enough to grab onto his arm. Gritting her teeth, Maggie gripped the rope and started to climb, using the wall closest to help leverage her way up. Her shoulder burned, throbbing its way down her arm and up and down her spine. When her hands were within reach of the top of the rope, Parker stretched out, his fingers reaching towards her. Maggie was gasping for breath and sweating profusely.

"Come on, Mags, almost there." He encouraged. Maggie extended her arm, and then gasped, pulling it back in as she felt a severe pain rip through her arm and to her back toward her shoulder. She swung in midair, clinging to the rope for dear life, trying hard not to scream in pain. Parker's eyes widened.

"What's wrong are you hurt?" he demanded.

"I think my shoulder is dislocated." She grated out. Her hands were starting to slip, and her head was starting to spin from not being able to draw a deep breath.

"Come on, just a little bit higher and I can get you." He told her, reaching farther. Maggie closed her eyes against the stinging burn of tears at the backs of her eyes, and took a fortifying breath. Using her body to swing momentum she reached for him again, and her cold fingers clutched at his hand for dear life. Unable to help it, she screamed a little, as the ripping feeling in her shoulder intensified. She felt her body slip back down toward the bottom of the hole, as his grip turned into a vice.

"Don't drop me." She cried, knowing she wouldn't be able to climb the rope a second time if she fell.

"I've got you." He reassured, even though he was sliding across the floor towards her. In the next moment, James had reappeared and reached down, grabbing at her other arm. The two boys pulled as one, and slowly Maggie's torso climbed to the edge of the hole. Kicking her legs furiously she helped them drag her the rest of the way out of the hole. Splinters gouged through her jeans, one lodging into her thigh. The three of them collapsed back towards the door, Parker still gripping her arm tightly as more of the floor fell in. Lare stood in the doorway, tears streaming down her face, her video camera was on but obviously forgotten in her hand. Parker got to his feet, partially dragging Maggie with him. She stood wincing. Her shoulder still hurt, but not nearly as badly as it had when she was holding up her own weight with it.

"What hurts?" he asked, spinning her around to face him.

"Everything." Maggie grumbled. James walked over, running his hands over her shoulder carefully.

"I can fix it, but it's going to hurt. We have to do at least one every practice." He told her. Maggie chewed on her lip nervously before nodding at him. James motioned for her to stand with her back flat against the wall. Parker followed her and gripped her hand tightly, as James placed his hands on her shoulders.

"You ready?" James asked. Maggie took a deep breath and let it out slowly before nodding at him. He shoved her shoulder back into its socket. Maggie screamed and squeezed Parkers fingers until they turned blue. James looked terrified.

"Are you alright? Did I make it worse?" he asked.

"No, no, you got it. Just hurts." Maggie gasped.

"Let's get out of here." James said. Maggie nodded, shouldering her back pack again. The other's filed out before her. She turned looking behind her one last time.

"What were you doing up here anyway, Maggie?" Lare asked, wiping at her streaming nose.

"I was up here looking for Parker and James. I thought I saw a little boy up here. I could have sworn." Maggie said, glancing back around the room, peering into the cages.

"Who the hell would keep a kid up here?" James asked.

"That's what this place was. A reform school for criminal boys. Only most of them were in here for really stupid things like cutting school and stuff. From the online blogs I've read, they shut it down because of allegations of abuse." Lare said.

"Some of the boys, got stuck here until they aged out because they didn't have any families." She went on. Maggie glanced over at Parker. The concern he had shown her moments before when he had helped hoist her out of the hole was gone, and the mask with the thin hard line of his mouth was back firmly in place.

"Let's just go get Josh and Alex and get out of here." Maggie said, turning her back on the room one final time, and heading down the steps. She paused, looking at them.

"I saw tracks on them. When I came up here." She whispered to Lauren as they made their way down.

"I'm telling you, Mags, we didn't see or hear anyone else up there. Just you screaming. The guys were poking around in one of the class rooms before they heard you." Lauren said. Maggie felt her hair line start to prick and out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something move in the shadows. She jerked around to look over her shoulder, having the unmistakable feeling of having someone watching her, but no one was there. Parker shut the door, glancing at her with a furrowed brow before heading down the hall and back to the steps where they descended once again to the gloom of the first floor. Josh and Alex stood shivering next to the sagging front door. When Josh saw Maggie he broke into a run and charged her, wrapping his arms around her. Maggie hugged him, smiling a little.

"I heard you scream. You don't scream like that." He blubbered into her jacket.

"It's fine, I'm fine. Don't be such a drama queen." She reassured him.

"Alright, everybody, out to the cars. Let's get the hell out of here." Parker called. James and Lare agreed. Parker and Alex led the way to the Tahoe, running through the rain, arms held over their heads for protection. Maggie climbed into the front seat with difficulty. Her shoulder was going to be a big problem and she knew it. She sat shivering in the front seat as Parker let the SUV warm up. She watched the haunted building through the misty windows as rain pounded on the roof. She squinted and could have sworn she saw the ratty curtain in the attic flutter, and the dark figure of a child standing silhouetted behind it.

"See something?" Parker asked. Maggie turned to see him watching her.

"I honestly don't know." She said feeling confused.

"Why were you up there?" he wanted to know as he put the Tahoe in gear.

"I was looking for you, actually. The boys said they saw you and James go upstairs. I went up there, and kept thinking I was hearing you guys, but I never could find you. And then I saw this, I don't know really, a shadow. And I followed it, thinking it was you, and that you were going to pull a prank on me or something, but then I got to the top of the stairs. In that room, and I-" here Maggie stopped, unsure if she was unable or unwilling to say what had happened next aloud. Her hands were shaking again, her fingers numb. Scrapes stung all along her forearms and her shoulder still thumped painfully.

"Thank you." She said after a moment. Parker took his eyes off the road to look at her.

"I owed you one. So now we are even." He said, shrugging it off. Maggie turned away from him and faced out of the window again watching the skeletal trees zip by in gray and brown blurs. Lightning flashed occasionally making the bare trees light up white in the darkness like old bones. Neither spoke for the rest of the journey. Alex and Josh sat in the back sniffing intermediately between the pair.

Maggie must have dozed off because the next thing she knew, Parker was pulling up in front of her house and he was gently shaking her shoulder.

"You alright to get in?" He asked. Maggie rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah, thanks. I guess I'll see you Monday." He nodded. Maggie reached in the back and shook Josh awake.

"Come on, Twerp. We're home."

Josh blinked blearily, and looked around confused before unbuckling his seat belt.

"Tell Alex, I'll see him at school." He said, gesturing at the other sleeping boy in the back seat. Josh paused before shutting the door and fixed Parker with a serious gaze for a thirteen year old.

"Thanks for saving my sister." Parker grinned.

"No problem, little dude." Maggie turned pink as Josh waved before trotting up the sidewalk.

"Listen, I-" Maggie started, but Parker cut her off.

"Don't think this changes anything. I owed you one. And as far as this stupid project goes, I'm over it. Just do what you do best, and forget about me, and I'll do the same. " He said. Maggie's mouth gaped open, unable to respond.

"And as for what happened back there, well let's just say _I was just doing the right thing._ " Parker quipped, throwing her words back in her face. His eyes held a serious expression that she couldn't quite read, and Maggie's cheeks felt scalded, her eyes burning with angry, unshed tears.

"You know what? Go screw yourself, Parker! I'm done being nice. So don't worry about any of that from me anymore. You want to play the misunderstood bad boy, poor little orphan, then fine. But I sure as crap won't be around for it." Maggie spat, and then slamming the door, she turned on her heel and trudged up the side walk and unlocked the door to her house with the key that her family kept hidden under the flower pot. Behind her, Parker revved the engine before tearing away from the curb and screeching back through her neighborhood. She told Josh good night before escaping down to the basement.

Maggie stripped down and stood in front of the mirror in her underwear, examining the bruises and scrapes on her back and across her body. Her shoulder was turning varying shades already. She popped two aspirin and turned the water in the shower on as hot as it would go. She stretched as she scrubbed the grime of the adventure off. Feeling somewhat better afterward she took a clean hot wet washcloth and rolled it in Epson salts and lay down on her bed, draping the cloth over her shoulder. Once it cooled she took it off and threw it in the bathroom floor, not caring about her parents for a change and pulled on a pair of fluffy pajamas and a long sleeve t-shirt. She raked a brush through her hair before heading upstairs to check on Josh.

She found him sprawled on the couch snoring lightly, his hair still damp from his own shower. A plate of half eaten pizza rolls sat beside him on the end table, and he had a sitcom buzzing on the TV in the background. She pulled out a couple of blankets and curled up in the chair after fluffing one over him. Spreading her own blanket out and punching her pillow until it was comfortable, Maggie sat watching the storm that raged behind her mom's lacy shears, not wanting to sit in the basement alone.

Parker's parting comments had rattled her to the core. She couldn't understand why he could pull her out of hole and be so concerned for her safety one minute and the next treat her with such cold indifference. Soon she was sleeping soundly, despite her whirling thoughts, the soreness in her shoulder and the unsettling feeling of being watched that had plagued her since leaving the school.


End file.
